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>>4992140
She wants to know if you intend to stop the awakened beings from attacking the Organization’s positions. She knows that they’ve served a useful purpose in distracting the awakened beings, and that if a few of their cannon shells struck home it could really contribute to your efforts. But they’re also your enemies, and your bodies aren’t quite as durable as the awakened beings’ are – those bullets that bounce off their tough hides might actually draw blood if they were to hit you or Serana.

It’s the moral choice you knew to expect coming into this battle: save humans who are actively trying to kill you, even at unreasonable risk to yourselves, or let them die and hope they accomplish something before they do.

>”They’d just try to kill us if we helped them.” For now, focus on the smaller group of enemies in front of you.
>Your initial plan had been to force the awakened beings to bunch up and let the Organization blast them. That could still work.
>Hold back for now – you recall there were trained yōma serving under Ella, and you can’t recall having seen them so far.
>Other?

>>4992146
>Hold back for now – you recall there were trained yōma serving under Ella, and you can’t recall having seen them so far.

>>4992146
>>Hold back for now – you recall there were trained yōma serving under Ella, and you can’t recall having seen them so far.

>>4992146
>Hold back for now – you recall there were trained yōma serving under Ella, and you can’t recall having seen them so far.

>>4992146
>Hold back for now – you recall there were trained yōma serving under Ella, and you can’t recall having seen them so far.

>>4992146
>Hold back for now – you recall there were trained yōma serving under Ella, and you can’t recall having seen them so far.

>>4992146
Something isn’t sitting right about this situation – you were under the impression that Ella had trained yōma backing her up in addition to her awakened being stooges, so where exactly is that support?

Gesturing for Serana to fall back for a moment, you focus instead on the situation around you to find that you’re actually surrounded by yōma. Not powerful ones to be sure, but definitely surrounded.

“Dozens of them, is that it?” you frown, sparing Serana a glance. “It seems we’re even more outnumbered than I assumed.”

…

Meanwhile, the battle between the Abyssals has devolved into a mere brawl between monsters. Sabela can easily take hits meant for her or Salem, but given what she knows of Ella’s abilities she avoids it wherever she can. And so from appearances, it would seem that Ella is pushing the other two around with her bulky awakened form. Salem merely awakens partially, keeping her body more mobile, while Sabela’s awakened form isn’t large to begin with.

“To think I used to be worried about the two of you!” Ella crows, her inhuman visage approximating a leer.

Sabela evades a series of strikes from a half-dozen of Ella’s newly-sprouted spined tendrils with a quiet smile, and an almost patronizing air. “So it seems you still haven’t realized it yet?”

“She never was the brains behind our operations,” Salem frowns, slashing at several more tendrils with her claws. “Our dynamic wasn’t like our predecessors’, where Rafaela synchronized for Constanzia. All Ella ever wanted was to be stronger than me.”

“And why shouldn’t I?” Ella demands, lashing out in every sense. “I had the motivation! I wanted it more! We were twins, so why were you always the one who was recognized?”

“Because it always drove you crazy!” Salem replies, grabbing hold of Ella’s tendrils and bracing, the force of the blow sliding her across the cobbles but opening the way for Sabela to take a few of those tendrils off with a single swipe.

…

The yōma descend on your position, mostly streaming into the courtyard from the nearby roads. They begin to overrun the Organization’s positions, allowing for the awakened beings to flip the armored vehicles in the streets.

>Okay, maybe now you should assist the Organization before they’re wiped out.
>You could lure the awakened beings away from where Sabela and Salem are fighting.
>Those automatic guns would be perfect against a formation of regular yōma. Go get one.
>Other?

>>4992773
>>Those automatic guns would be perfect against a formation of regular yōma. Go get one.

>>4992773
>>Those automatic guns would be perfect against a formation of regular yōma. Go get one.

Gib shiny.

>>4992773
>>Those automatic guns would be perfect against a formation of regular yōma. Go get one.

>>4992773
>Those automatic guns would be perfect against a formation of regular yōma. Go get one.

>>4992773
>>Those automatic guns would be perfect against a formation of regular yōma. Go get one.
DAKKA

>>4992773
>Those automatic guns would be perfect against a formation of regular yōma. Go get one.

>>4992773
>Those automatic guns would be perfect against a formation of regular yōma. Go get one.

>>4992773
>Those automatic guns would be perfect against a formation of regular yōma. Go get one.

>>4992773
>3d10, best of three

Rolled 2, 4, 6 = 12 (3d10)

>>4994393

Rolled 1, 1, 1 = 3 (3d10)

>>4994393

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>>4994423

Rolled 9, 1, 2 = 12 (3d10)

>>4994393

>>4994393
You gesture to Serana. “Those automatic guns would be great against yōma!” you declare. “Support me while I go get one!”

She nods in agreement, and you both charge towards the nearest overturned vehicle.

“Where are you going!?” one of the awakened beings demands, only to fall victim to a high-low combination between you and Serana – you aiming low at her knees, and Serana aiming for her head. Serana essentially rolls over top of your mutual victim, keeping her stride admirably as you close on your goal.

The crew has been torn apart already, and you visit the same ruin on the yōma who killed them. They drop with hardly any resistance, and Serana covers for you while you wrench one of the guns free... or at least she does until one of the awakened beings decides to attack you at that very moment.

You cough as sharp talons six feet long slam through your torso and through Serana, who carefully grabs hold of the intruding limb with her hand to make sure it doesn’t move and cause even more internal damage. With a cry, you throw your blade at the joint closest to where the limb impaled Serana, and twist your body painfully around the limb which struck you. Your knee strikes the joint once, twice, three times to hammer force through the thin armor and into the joint.

After a moment your blade comes crashing through that weakened joint, and you wrench it around to sever the limb in a spray of blood – Serana managed to break free by striking your sword, and was kind enough to toss it back to you before retrieving her own.

“Piss off!” you roar, unloading bullets into the awakened being’s face, forcing it to shelter behind its damaged limbs. “Serana!”

Your partner rushes recklessly, pushing her blade through a chink in the awakened being’s armor then twisting in place, using all her strength to rip the edge out through the monster’s ribs. Bullets from your weapon pepper the smaller yōma all around Serana, keeping them off her as she withdraws.

She pulls the clawed limb out of her body, as you did when you had the chance a few moments ago... you’re going to have to be the one to cover for her while she regenerates.

>Stick close to Serana while she regenerates, focus on covering her closely.
>Bring down part of the buildings to one side of this street, narrow the passage.
>Pull Serana into cover, see if there are any surviving Organization soldiers to rally.
>Other?

>>4994512
>>Pull Serana into cover, see if there are any surviving Organization soldiers to rally.

>>4994512
>
>Stick close to Serana while she regenerates, focus on covering her closely.

>>4994512
>Bring down part of the buildings to one side of this street, narrow the passage.

>>4994512
>Bring down part of the buildings to one side of this street, narrow the passage.

>>4994512
>>Bring down part of the buildings to one side of this street, narrow the passage.

>>4994512
>3d10, DC 13, best of three

Rolled 4, 9, 8 = 21 (3d10)

>>4995801

Rolled 5, 1, 6 = 12 (3d10)

>>4995801

Rolled 8, 8, 5 = 21 (3d10)

>>4995801

>>4995801
One tactic could improve your situation drastically, if it worked – narrowing the approach you have to defend. The only problem is that the best way to do that would be to bring down part of a nearby building so that it blocks part of the street, which is a task much more difficult than most people would probably imagine. Humans have spent a long count of centuries working to ensure that precisely that will not happen when they build a home or a place of buisness, and in spite of a few setbacks they’ve gotten remarkably good at it.

The only real exceptions to the rule are fires, floods, and the rare earthquake. And it’s exactly that last possibility that has you hoping these apartment buildings have basements.

You fire across your body, sending several rounds down the street as you rush and leap into the air, discarding the now-empty weapon and grasping your sword with both hands.

“Haaaaah!” you shout uncharacteristically, bringing your sword down through the front of the building and slamming it through... into a basement.

The force sends shockwaves through the supports for the first floor, splintering support beams and cracking delicate brick archwork. The forces are no longer balanced, and the support for the walls of the front of the building begin to sag and then collapse, dragging the whole structure forward. Bricks and roofing tiles fill much of the street, forcing your would-be attackers to make a choice – to go around, or to clamor over and expose themselves to counterattack.

>Wait in the gap in the street, challenge your enemies to do what you planned around.
>Wait on the other side of the debris, aim to maim your enemies as they vault over.
>Take Serana through the remaining buildings and try to flank while the enemy is confused.
>Other?

>>4995867
>Take Serana through the remaining buildings and try to flank while the enemy is confused.

>>4995867
>Take Serana through the remaining buildings and try to flank while the enemy is confused.

>>4995867
>Wait on the other side of the debris, aim to maim your enemies as they vault over.

>>4995867
>3d10, best of three

Rolled 7, 10, 5 = 22 (3d10)

>>4997127

Rolled 10, 10, 5 = 25 (3d10)

>>4997127

Rolled 10, 7, 4 = 21 (3d10)

>>4997127

>>4997127
Before the dust gets a chance to settle, you gesture for Serana to follow you into one of the remaining buildings where you quickly ascend the stairs. By the time the yōma start climbing over the rubble, and filing around it on the far side, you’re already in position.

Your sword spins through the air, slashing apart several yōma before you follow shortly behind, your mostly-awakened body making short work of the survivors. One monstrous arm grasps the hilt of your sword and pries it out of a chunk of masonry, arcing through another yōma with a vicious grace and an unrelenting force. Despite your unusual size for an ‘awakened being’, partly the result of how much of you is still clinging even now to your humanity, the regular yōma really don’t have an answer for something like you.

Even if your blade weren’t severing flesh with such ease, or your punches cracking bone, the white strikes technique would have made short work of the attackers, who now begin to scramble over each other to escape back the way they came only to find more of their supposed comrades blocking the way. It’s a massacre. Dozens of monstrous bodies, only vaguely human-looking, fall in chunks to the cobblestones, purple blood running freely in the cracks between them. Soon it gets worse for them – Serana rejoins the fray.

“That was even more pathetic than I expected,” one of the remaining awakened beings growls. Evidently they’d been watching your mother and Salem push Ella into a corner while you and Serana slaughtered their lessers. “Though one of you looks pretty close. How are you holding off anyway? Shouldn’t you be one of us by now?”

“I was born half-awakened,” you growl back. “Built different, I guess.”

“Your friend looks like she’s struggling to keep up.”

>Serana’s fine. I trust her completely, awakened or no.
>Serana, it’s okay to tap into your yōki. I’m here for you.
>Serana, hang back for now. This one gets on my nerves.
>Other?

>>4997173
>>Serana’s fine. I trust her completely, awakened or no.

>>4997173
>Other?
Better than you.

>>4997173
>Serana’s fine. I trust her completely, awakened or no.

>>4997173
>Serana, hang back for now. This one gets on my nerves.

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>>4997173
>>Serana’s fine. I trust her completely, awakened or no.
>>Serana, it’s okay to tap into your yōki. I’m here for you.
Image possibly related?

>>4997173
>>Serana’s fine. I trust her completely, awakened or no.

>>4997173
“I trust her,” you smile calmly, never taking your eyes off your opponent. “Awakened or not, she has my complete confidence.”

The awakened being sneers at you. “Then you’re a fool.”

“I choose my allies carefully,” you insist, “and my friends even more so. I may be a fool, that may be true. But trusting in the friends I chose so carefully is not a mistake.”

After a few moments, you find yourself surprised – and even the awakened being seems to be caught off-guard by what happens.

“... thank you, miss Noel...” a raspy voice from behind you says, prompting you to take a quick glance over your shoulder.

Serana’s eyes glow golden, and her face has started to distort from the flow of yōki, but something else has changed. Not only has her voice returned, albeit with some straining on her part, but her missing arm has begun to regrow. But it’s far from human, instead forming as a black and glistening limb ending in long, razer-sharp claws, seemingly in a constant state of shifting and rippling as though it can’t quite decide how it wants to appear when it’s done growing.

She glares at the awakened beings with a cold rage, which were it aimed at you would probably make your blood run cold. “You insulted my friend.”

“Yeah?” the awakened being counters awkwardly. “What’re you gonna do about it?”

>Let Serana do this solo, observe her new changes carefully.
>Do this as a team, quickly, efficiently, and mercilessly.
>Split up, double the rate you can turn the tables on your foes.
>Other?

>>4999342
>>Do this as a team, quickly, efficiently, and mercilessly.
Teamwork makes the dream work.

>>4999342
>Do this as a team, quickly, efficiently, and mercilessly.

>>4999342
>Do this as a team, quickly, efficiently, and mercilessly.

>>4999342
>Do this as a team, quickly, efficiently, and mercilessly.

>>4999342
>>Do this as a team, quickly, efficiently, and mercilessly.

>>4999342
>>Do this as a team, quickly, efficiently, and mercilessly.

>>4999342
>Do this as a team, quickly, efficiently, and mercilessly.

>>4999349
>3d10, best of four

Rolled 6, 3, 3 = 12 (3d10)

>>5000364

Rolled 1, 3, 10 = 14 (3d10)

>>5000364

Rolled 1, 6, 8 = 15 (3d10)

>>5000364

Rolled 6, 6, 4 = 16 (3d10)

>>5000364

>>5000364
“Serana,” you muse, “what say we show these fools who they’re dealing with?”

“… together,” she agrees, her tone too raspy to tell for sure whether that’s confidence or not.

…

“It feels like Serana finally decided to let loose,” Sabela muses for a moment, right in the middle of her fight with Salem against Ella. “I hope for your sake, Ella, your little pawns are as strong as you seem to think.”

“Why would you hope that?” Salem demands, weaving between Ella’s ferocious spear-thrusts and working extra hard to get in a few strikes of her own.

“Because I’d hate for her to die disappointed,” Sabela admits, her skull parting as she takes a bladed tendril to the head, pinning it in place so she can lop it off before her head essentially stitches itself back together. “That’s no way for a former warrior to go.”

…

You’ve backed the awakened beings into a proverbial corner with this latest turn in your battle – they now understand quite clearly that with Serana’s partial-awakening the punishment for even a moment of weakness, or the slightest lapse in concentration, will be death. So now they’re covering for each other much more diligently, making it difficult for you and Serana to outflank them despite your comparatively higher fighting strength as a team.

The remaining awakened beings repulse your combination three times, but each time they take a little more cumulative damage. One loses an eye to a raking attack from Serana’s twisting arm, another takes a brutal blow to the head from your knee – partly to make sure you can get free of its grasp, and partly because you wanted to take her out of the fight for a moment and your white strike technique is the best way to do that. Two more take deep lacerations from carefully-placed slashes.

“There’s only two of them!” one of the awakened beings protests. “How is it we’re losing ground!?”

“I guess it’s past time we introduced ourselves,” you muse with a flourish of your blade. “I am Noel Tiberius di Hazaran, daughter of the Abyssal One Sabela and former number Seven in the Organization.”

“Serana,” Serana growls – having actually progressed to the ability to growl, rather than struggling to even make sounds recognizable as speech. “Former number Three.”

…

“Why won’t you die!?” Ella howls.

Sabela reattaches her arm with an air of complete calm. “Because that is simply what I am, Ella. I had hoped you would come to your senses by now.”

“She doesn’t have any!” Salem grunts with exertion, forcing a bony spear-tipped tendril away from herself.
>1/2

>>5000567
“Well then, that’s too bad,” Sabela sighs. “I suppose now I will have to show you how I earned the name ‘Trueheart’ Sabela during my time in the Organization. But please try to remember as you die, Ella, that you did this to yourself.”

…

Serana flashes through the signs with her new limb. [Too slowly.]

“You’re right,” you pant. “We’re losing momentum, aren’t we?”

>Time for something flashy – use a little more yōki.
>Flanking hasn’t worked, but you’re still a defense type. Time to meatshield like you were taught.
>There’s a classic tactic they won’t be expecting, to make this a series of two on one fights.
>Other?

>>5000571
>>Time for something flashy – use a little more yōki.

>>5000571
>There’s a classic tactic they won’t be expecting, to make this a series of two on one fights.

>>5000571
>There’s a classic tactic they won’t be expecting, to make this a series of two on one fights.

Why didn't we take a few more girls with us to battle like Solarius?

>>5000571
>There’s a classic tactic they won’t be expecting, to make this a series of two on one fights.

>>5000571
>>Time for something flashy – use a little more yōki.

>>5000571
>Time for something flashy – use a little more yōki.

https://anydice.com/

Fun dice system probability finder. Might be useful since you keep trying to use different dice systems, QM

>>5000571
>>There’s a classic tactic they won’t be expecting, to make this a series of two on one fights.

>>5000571
>There’s a classic tactic they won’t be expecting, to make this a series of two on one fights.

>>5000571
>3d10, best of four

Rolled 3, 7, 2 = 12 (3d10)

>>5001736

Rolled 10, 3, 10 = 23 (3d10)

>>5001736

Rolled 2, 4, 10 + 4 = 20 (3d10 + 4)

>>5001736

Rolled 6, 10, 4 = 20 (3d10)

>>5001736

Rolled 9, 8, 10 = 27 (3d10)

>>5001736

>>5001736
There’s a classic tactic that you were all taught by the Organization, which applies equally well to fighting yōma or humans from a numerical disadvantage. You rarely use it because it’s rarely something you need to rely on, and it’s honestly somewhat embarrassing.

“Hey Serana,” you mutter. “I think it’s time to do ‘that’.”

She glances over her shoulder. “... ‘that’?”

“Yeah,” you confirm. “It’d be even more embarrassing to lose to these clowns just because they outnumber us.”

“Ah,” she realizes. “Yeah, ‘that’ might work.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” one of the awakened beings demands.

“... bye!”

With that shout, you and Serana both turn in unison and sprint down the road.

“Hey, they’re gonna get away!

“After them! Or Ella’s gonna have our heads!”

What a bunch of morons.

Your plan comes together quickly, as one of the first awakened beings starts to catch up with you. So you turn down a narrow alleyway, forcing the awakened being to turn to follow you – straight into an ambush. Serana descends from on high, having used the side of a building to gain some elevation, and you attack from below. The awakened being shrieks, having been caught totally by surprise as Serana’s blow splits the crown of its skull and your own crushes its chest, sending it hurtling through a window and into some family’s abandoned parlor.

The rest of the awakened beings continue to stream past the scene of the ambush as you continue to run, with the slowest of them bringing up the rear.

At an intersection you launch your second ambush as the next-fastest awakened being catches up with your pace – you attack from one side and Serana from the other in the very moment your target steps over a manhole cover. She tries to counter by extending spears from her palms in both directions at once, but such a linear attack is easy enough for two half-awakened warriors to evade. You each parry one of her arms and turn as you charge, essentially reversing the directions of your attacks before landing powerful blows to her spine and her sternum. The combined hammer and anvil blows are powerful enough to crush her torso to a pulp, as your white strike damages her insides and Serana’s earthbreaker crushes through the plates protecting her spine.

Then you reverse again – your blade serving as a wedge and the side of Serana’s as a mallet, splitting the skull and crushing the whole torso down into the sewer before you both turn and run again.
>1/2

>>5002130
The tactic, of course, is to draw a numerically superior opponent into a series of two-on-one battles – in this case the urban terrain allows you to set up those two-on-ones as ambushes, further increasing the effectiveness of the trick. And with their fear of Ella first and foremost in their minds, by Ella’s design, it takes them entirely too long to figure out that they’re being outplayed.

It comes down to the last two awakened beings, after you and Serana whittled down their numbers together, who stop short at the same armored vehicle you salvaged the gun from before.

“We’ve just done a big circle!” one of them shouts.

“And you seem to have left some of your peers behind,” you declare, tossing the corpse of a yōma who was unlucky enough to get in your way out into the street.

>Now, you can wrap this up with two solo fights.
>Work together with Serana to split them up and isolate them.
>Make them an offer – let them wait and see what happens to Ella.
>Other?

>>5002160
>>Work together with Serana to split them up and isolate them.

>>5002160
>Make them an offer – let them wait and see what happens to Ella.

>>5002160
Work together with serana ...

>>5002160
It's even more embarrassing for the ABs, who were also taught this tactic yet fell for it hook, line and sinker.
>Work together with Serana to split them up and isolate them.

>>5002160
>Work together with Serana to split them up and isolate them.

>>5002160
>>Work together with Serana to split them up and isolate them.
N

>>5002160
>Work together with Serana to split them up and isolate them.

>>5002160
>>Work together with Serana to split them up and isolate them.

>>5002160
Now, it becomes a matter of pack tactics rather than stringing the awakened beings along, and this should be almost a comically simple matter for two heavily-trained warriors. It’s really the basic technique for fighting an awakened being, that even double-digits without half-awakening in their toolkits should be able to use.

“Time to finish this,” you declare.

“Agreed,” Serana growls. “I’ll lead.”

She lands a single-handed earthbreaker that shatters the cobbles between the two awakened beings, forcing one left and one right. The one that goes left she strikes at with her regrown appendage, forcing it to backpedal into the wall of an apartment block, while you attack the one that broke right. She blocks your sword with her armored forearms, only to take a kick to her ribs that sends her flying across the street into the building opposite her only remaining ally.

Between you and Serana, who joins you in taking on the one you kicked, that fight hardly lasts more than a few seconds. The two of you together in these states are just too strong for a single awakened being, confused and demoralized by the deaths of her former comrades, to manage. On top of that your techniques are too advanced, too novel, to be easily countered.

She keeps fighting right to the end. It just isn’t enough.

By the time you step out of the rubble and dust, the last awakened being seems to have simply given up. She’s reverted to her human form and knelt, bloodied and unclothed, seemingly just waiting.

“If you don’t someone will at this point,” she offers. “Just do it. It’s over.”

>Not like this. We don’t do executions.
>You do realize there’s another way, right?
>Oblige her.
>Other?

>>5003692
>>Not like this. We don’t do executions.
>>You do realize there’s another way, right?

>>5003692
>You do realize there’s another way, right?

>>5003692
This one had already refused the other way.
>Oblige her.

>>5003692
>Other?
Ask for her name.

>>5003692
>>Not like this. We don’t do executions.

>>5003692
>You do realize there’s another way, right?

>>5003692
>>>Not like this. We don’t do executions.
>keep guard up this could easily be a trick.

>>5003692
“We don’t do executions,” you grumble, lowering your blade. “Either agree to try our ‘alternative’, or do it yourself if you’re still so desperate to die.”

She stares back up at you in shock. “You’re still going on about that? After all this?”

“She believes in it,” Serana glares down at the awakened being as she begins to reign in her yōki. Her arm begins to wither, eventually crumbling away entirely. From there, you suspect she’ll fall silent again.

Serana opens her mouth, testing her voice and finding that you were right – and she was probably as well – in assuming that she wouldn’t be able to speak once she stopped using her yōki.

[That was short-lived.]

“What was that?” the awakened being asks, glancing at your partner. “What is she saying?”

“Mere commentary,” you shrug.

“You can understand her?”

“Of course.”

...

“It seems all your little pawns have been spent, sister,” Salem smirks.

“Damn you,” Ella hisses. “You and your little pet claymores.”

“It seems there’s still one alive,” Sabela offers calmly. “Even now I think Noel is offering terms to let her live.”

“Still with the mercy,” Salem sighs. “I’m not sure I can get used to that.”

“Maybe not,” Sabela shrugs. “But you don’t have to agree on everything.”

...

The awakened being bows her head. “I... will try it your way. What do I have to do?”

>First, clothing. Second, apologize to the other defectors from Ella’s ranks.
>Help us withdraw from this settlement safely, then we’ll talk.
>Ella is still a problem – how do we take her down for good?
>Other?

>>5004935
>>First, clothing. Second, apologize to the other defectors from Ella’s ranks.

>>5004935
>First, clothing. Second, apologize to the other defectors from Ella’s ranks.

>>5004935
>Ella is still a problem – how do we take her down for good?

>>5004935
>>First, clothing. Second, apologize to the other defectors from Ella’s ranks.

>>5004935
>First, clothing. Second, apologize to the other defectors from Ella’s ranks.

>>5004935
“First,” you insist, “clothing. Second, I’m going to have you apologize to your former comrades who defected first. They’ll be the ones who decide how much of a risk we’re going to take on you.”

...

You are Sabela, the youngest of the Abyssal Ones – sometimes, you’ve been called ‘the Undying One’. However you still prefer the nickname you carried when you were more like a human than you are today, ‘Trueheart’. Your yōki aura has a curious effect on people’s minds that some have likened to a form of mind control. This is preposterous of course, yōki simply can’t do that. But your presence can and often does draw out more of what’s already there, amplifying personality quirks and defects to an irrational level.

For example, someone with a strong sense of self-loathing or guilt may attempt suicide. Someone with a personal grudge against another nearby may become homicidal. One may act drunk, one may struggle to stay awake and alert, one may be crippled with doubt. It takes either special resistances or a disciplined mind to stave off the effects when you use your ability at its peak effect, which when combined with your near-perfect swordplay, your powerful yōki, and your high regenerative abilities led many in the Organization to consider you their strongest number One in history.

However, it is certainly possible for even your own abilities to backfire somewhat.

“She’s not stopping,” Salem observes of Ella as she lashes out wildly with her many limbs, wailing like a demented madwoman all the while.

“I can see that!” you snipe back, narrowly avoiding being struck again.

“Do something about it!”

“She’s your sister, not mine!” you counter.

“Yeah, but you did this, not me!”

>Take hits for Salem, try to create an opening as a defender might.
>Try to focus on whittling away her sanity even further from here.
>Take the lead, show them both your infamous ‘sword style’ since you awakened.
>Other?

>>5006127
>Take the lead, show them both your infamous ‘sword style’ since you awakened.

>>5006127
>Take the lead, show them both your infamous ‘sword style’ since you awakened.

>>5006127
>>Take the lead, show them both your infamous ‘sword style’ since you awakened.

>>5006127
>Try to focus on whittling away her sanity even further from here.
Don't want any crazy homicidal claymores learning our style.....

>>5006127
>Take the lead, show them both your infamous ‘sword style’ since you awakened.

>>5006127
It’s time to finally show Ella what you’re capable of, and to bring this thing to a close.

“Thank you for your help, Salem,” you muse as your forelimbs extend and sharpen, fully awakening into your true form. “I can take it from here.”

With a screech Ella attacks, and you pivot with an effortless grace to slice two of her limbs clean away.

“I’m not sure if you can understand me,” you address Ella as you weave carefully through her attacks, slicing away her spear-tipped tendrils wherever you can and moving gradually closer to her. “But you fell for it right from the start.”

“You wanted to tire her out the whole time?” Salem realizes. “That was your plan?”

Your arm blades trim back Ella’s limbs as you continue to push forward, and in short order you’re slashing away at her main body. Her actual arm and her throat are your first targets, mirroring the wounds Ella left in Serana’s flesh, before impaling her chest and twisting your blade free, turning and slashing across her spine, leaving a deep crease in her skull, taking one of her eyes. Your movements are swift and graceful, and Ella’s mad flailing is totally ineffective even before she loses the eye.

Eventually Ella collapses under the weight of her wounds, having spent too much yōki trying to keep up with both you and Salem. The poor fool never realized that you were in control the whole time.

>Take her head.
>Leave her to Salem.
>Other?

>>5007083
>>Leave her to Salem.

>>5007083
>Leave her to Salem.

>>5007083
>Leave her to Salem.

>>5007083
>Leave her to Salem.

>>5007083
You take a step back. “She’s your sister, Sa...”

Before you even finish the sentence Salem cleaves straight through Ella’s head, killing her instantly.

There’s a long silence, until Noel, Serana, and an awakened being wrapped in a tattered cloak arrive on the scene.

...

You are Noel Tiberius di Hazaran, and your mother’s body is slowly reverting to what it looked like before. Her arm-swords disappear, and her body visibly shrinks back down into something like a human’s. Then she takes a small handful of spice and downs it all at once.

The last surviving awakened being, Reika, stares in shock at the scene.

“She’s... really dead?”

Your mother watches her with obvious curiosity. “You can’t be mourning her.”

Reika shakes her head emphatically. “No... it’s been a long time since I was this happy!”

>We’ll get the other surviving awakened beings and get out of here, as quickly as possible.
>We should search for any civilian survivors or Organization soldiers.
>We should hold fast here for the night. Recover our strength while we can.
>Other?

>>5008097
>We should search for any civilian survivors or Organization soldiers.

>>5008097
>>We should search for any civilian survivors or Organization soldiers.

>>5008097
>We should search for any civilian survivors or Organization soldiers.

>>5008097
>We’ll get the other surviving awakened beings and get out of here, as quickly as possible.

>>5008097
>>We should search for any civilian survivors or Organization soldiers.

>>5008097
You take the time necessary to search for survivors and link back up with Livia and her friend, who seems to have healed herself significantly since you left them in the church.

“I didn’t get the chance to thank you before,” she greets you calmly. “My name is...”

“Jess.”

Reika looks distinctly uncomfortable.

‘Jess’, the previously wounded awakened being, frowns. “Reika.”

“What are you doing here?” Livia growls.

“I... surrendered to Noel and Serana here,” Reika explains. “I lost my will to fight and they took pity on me.”

“Is this going to be a problem?” your mother presses.

Livia glances at Jess, who stares hard at Reika. “Do you regret it?”

“Yes.”

“Then no,” Jess replies to Sabela. “It won’t be pleasant, but I won’t make it a problem.”

“I wouldn’t ask for ‘pleasant,’,” Reika admits. “I know what I did.”

“We know you do,” Livia assures her. “If Jess says it’s okay then I’ll keep my thoughts to myself.”

...

By nightfall you’ve scraped together as many survivors as you can find – a handful of dazed and exhausted Organization soldiers who threw aside their weapons at the sight of you, the three surviving awakened beings, Salem and Sabela, yourself and Serana, and a few civilians who chose not to evacuate with the rest.

Most give you a wide margin.

“By this time tomorrow night people will have started returning,” you tell the surviving soldiers. “And they won’t be happy with what they find. Your reinforcements are no doubt further from here than that.”

“I think we get your point,” one of the soldiers insists. “We’ll come with you.”

>We can’t offer the locals any help in recovering, since the Organization is on its way.
>The best we can do is strike elsewhere while the Organization is unbalanced from this loss.
>Let’s salvage as much as we can tonight. We have the muscle to be sure.
>Other?

>>5009057
>>Let’s salvage as much as we can tonight. We have the muscle to be sure.

>>5009057
>Let’s salvage as much as we can tonight. We have the muscle to be sure.

>>5009057
>Let’s salvage as much as we can tonight. We have the muscle to be sure.

Was Jess the one who killed what's her name when the other AB tried to escape?
If so then what are the odds of that.....

>>5009057
>Let’s salvage as much as we can tonight. We have the muscle to be sure.

>>5009057
>>Let’s salvage as much as we can tonight. We have the muscle to be sure.

>>5009235
She's not the one who did that, no. But she was one of the ones Livia considered to be "in play" as a defector, but she sided with Ella against her only real "friend" and now she feels guilty about it.

>>5009057
“We have an opportunity here,” you muse, “to gather materiel we might not otherwise have access to. And we’ve got plenty of people who can use yōki.”

“I follow,” your mother nods in agreement. “What do you think we need?”

Under your direction you and your comrades recover a few key things from the wreckage. An automatic rifle, a belt of ammunition, a shell for one of the large cannon, a hand-thrown grenade, the action and breech block of a main cannon, and parts from an internal combustion engine. You also take a small section of armor to test its properties when you return to Hazaran.

You decide to let the normal humans who want to come with you rest, since their bodies need it more, though many of the rest of you are also in rough shape. Even your own body has been run ragged, muscles strained and tendons ruptured from the strain of your near-complete awakening. Even your mind feels a little foggy, and slow.

[Someone should stand watch,] Serana suggests.

“You rest,” you insist. “That was your first time awakening that far. I know how that feels.”

[I’d argue,] she shakes her head, [but I’m too tired.]

>Ask Sabela to keep a watch on the Organization and the new awakened beings.
>You and Sabela will share the responsibility.
>You and Salem will share the responsibility.
>You’ll handle this. You want to speak with members of both groups in private.
>Other?

>>5010067
>>You and Sabela will share the responsibility.

>>5010067
>>You and Sabela will share the responsibility.

>>5010067
>You and Sabela will share the responsibility.

>>5010067
>>You and Salem will share the responsibility.

>>5010067
>You and Sabela will share the responsibility.

>>5010067
>>You and Salem will share the responsibility.
She needs talking too more IMO

>>5010067
>You and Sabela will share the responsibility.

Would be a bit funny to have Salem watch over the others if only just to see their reaction to a splitting image of their former boss give them all murder stares.

Also how has Serana not healed her voice after awakening? Even if she reverted, she probably has changed on some level and she was able to speak while awakened hasn't she?

>>5010965
For much the same reason that she didn't keep the arm - because it never "healed" per se.

>>5010067
“My mother and I will take watch,” you offer. “The rest of you, try to recover as best you can.”

There’s some well-meaning ‘grumbling’ on Serana’s part, but hardly any of the other survivors have the energy to lodge a serious complaint about the arrangement. And so after finding shelter in a damaged apartment building near the edge of town, the others drift off into fitful sleep, getting what little rest is possible under the circumstances. The Organization soldiers seem the most uncomfortable, even though you pulled out some bedding for them from the closets. You even broke down a few of the doors to neighboring homes to raid them for creature comforts.

But you suppose there’s just no sense expecting them to ever feel ‘comfortable’ around awakened beings, or even half-blooded warriors such as you and Serana. Which really makes you wonder of course how they’ll feel about Hazaran.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it my dear?” Sabela muses quietly as you sit on the rooftop. “This unexpected company of ours? Even Salem of all people...”

“I certainly couldn’t have predicted this,” you confess.

“You know who could have?” Sabela smiles. “Olivia. Olivia could have predicted this... she always had faith in our ability to pull together around our fellow warriors. I wish she could have seen this.”

“Me too,” you admit.

“I do have one concern however,” your mother confesses. “What will you tell your government in the capital?”

>Only the minimum necessary for them to prepare.
>Everything. The logical conclusion is an invasion of Hazaran after all.
>Beyond the government, I plan to get the support of the public too.
>Other?

>>5011033
>>Everything. The logical conclusion is an invasion of Hazaran after all.

>>5011049
>>5011033
what he said

>>5011033
>Everything. The logical conclusion is an invasion of Hazaran after all.
Gotta get our spin in first.

>>5011033
>>Everything. The logical conclusion is an invasion of Hazaran after all.
the keyword there is 'my' government

>>5011033
>Everything. The logical conclusion is an invasion of Hazaran after all.

>>5011033
>>Everything. The logical conclusion is an invasion of Hazaran after all.

>>5011033
>Everything. The logical conclusion is an invasion of Hazaran after all.

>>5011033
“I’ll tell them everything,” you decide. “After all, the most logical conclusion to this is an attempted invasion of Hazaran.”

“The thought occurred to me as well,” Sabela admits with a weary sigh. “I’m sorry to say it, but I’m unconvinced Hazaran will hold its ground.”

“I’ve learned one thing from watching them up-close,” you offer, “these mechanical monstrosities of theirs are hardly invincible. They struggle traveling uphill and across narrow roads, and while their front armor is thick they do have weak points – attack from below, pinpoint the gun mounts, attack the engine or the fuel?”

“It adds up.”

“And if not, we have the warriors,” Sabela offers. “Even more awakened beings than I imagined possible. You’ve really outdone yourself, my dear.

>Mention the Spice
>Don’t mention it

>>5011861
>>Mention the Spice

>>5011861
>Mention the Spice

>>5011861
>Mention the Spice

Who are we mentioning the spice to?

>>5011978
the humans. Telling them and other potential Yoma that there's an alternative food that Yoma crave that doesn't require the Yoma nomming on people's intestines to survive.

>>5011978
>>5012098
You'd be mentioning to Sabela that you noticed her guzzling spice after her fight. This is the first time you've seen her fully awaken since this arrangement came into existence, so this was a new observation.

Sorry that wasn't clear.

>>5011861
>>Mention the Spice

>>5011861
>>Mention the Spice

>>5012151
>Mention the Spice
Yeah, mentioning it to humans and letting the Org know would draw too many problems and probably give more options for control to the Org, like having AB's on their roster, and humans, well we've seen how they act after people have just been in contact with Witches after killing Yoma.

>>5011861
“You know,” you muse quietly, “I saw how much spice you needed to take after fighting Ella.”

“I know,” your mother admits. “I was surprised.”

“Do you still have enough?” you ask carefully. “For you and Salem, remember?”

“Barely,” she nods. “We’ll need to be careful.”

“This whole thing feels so fragile sometimes,” you confess.

Sabela spares you a glance. “It always will be until we produce a surplus. Which I know you’ve wanted to avoid doing, but I think it’s time to revisit the topic.”

“Our faction isn’t so little anymore,” you agree, “with four more awakened beings joining our ranks, assuming Salem is good at her word?”

“She will be,” Sabela assures you. “We spoke privately about it.”

>Then it sounds like we need to increase production – it may increase vulnerability, but so will under-production.
>We should really consider de-centralizing our organization, including the growth of the spice.
>I’m beginning to suspect we’re outgrowing Scaithness.
>Other?

>>5012748
>>Then it sounds like we need to increase production – it may increase vulnerability, but so will under-production.

>>5012748
>Then it sounds like we need to increase production – it may increase vulnerability, but so will under-production.

>>5012748
>We should really consider de-centralizing our organization, including the growth of the spice.

>>5012748
>We should really consider de-centralizing our organization, including the growth of the spice.

>>5012748
>>We should really consider de-centralizing our organization, including the growth of the spice.

>>5012748
>>We should really consider de-centralizing our organization, including the growth of the spice.

>>5012748
>We should really consider de-centralizing our organization, including the growth of the spice.

>>5012748
“Part of the problem with spice is that it’s only grown in one place,” you admit with a frown. “Which makes it a point of failure, and it’s something that absolutely cannot fail. We just can’t afford to let that happen.”

“It seems we also have quite a number of warriors packing into a small area,” your mother adds.

“The castle is getting a little crowded, yes,” you confess. “It makes sense to start de-centralizing.”

“Where would the second location be?” Sabela asks you curiously. “Have you given it any thought?”

“No,” you shake your head. “The capital makes some sense, but that moves people further from the border. Daria is probably the most sensible from that perspective.”

“But it’s a good distance from Scaithness,” your mother nods in understanding. “It spreads your forces fairly thin.”

“Most likely this will be won by conventional forces,” you admit. “But I’m wary of spreading our defenses too thin, yes. We’ll need to be able to pivot to wherever the Organization plans to strike first.”

“Have you given any thought to taking the offensive?” Sabela asks.

You nod. “It could work. Or it could be a disaster.”

“If you over-extend your supply lines.”

“That’s right.”

“Your father taught you well,” your mother muses thoughtfully. “So, what is your initial instinct then? How do we balance your two concerns?”

>We have a crop of spice grown in the capital as well, and ship it where it’s most needed.
>We’ll have to maintain a more permanent presence around the capital, along with a spice crop.
>I think Daria, or somewhere along the Dari pass, is the best place to open a ‘branch office’.
>I’m not sure it’s wise to decentralize until we’ve made adjustments for the new awakened beings.
>Other?

>>5013498
>>We have a crop of spice grown in the capital as well, and ship it where it’s most needed.

>>5013498
>I think Daria, or somewhere along the Dari pass, is the best place to open a ‘branch office’.

>>5013498
>I think Daria, or somewhere along the Dari pass, is the best place to open a ‘branch office’.

>>5013498
>We’ll have to maintain a more permanent presence around the capital, along with a spice crop.

>>5013498
“I think the Dari pass would be ideal,” you admit. “It provides a straight shot into the heart of Hazaran if it were ever taken.”

“So will this follow the buffer strategy as well?”

You nod. “That makes the most sense I think.”

“So not in Daria itself?”

“Possibly not,” you admit with a frown. “However there’s no real infrastructure for that sort of approach right now.”

“Existing fortifications?”

“Minimal,” you admit. “Mostly marching forts, a few gun towers.”

“So you would need to remedy that situation,” your mother decides. “The only question is how you would like to proceed.”

>Multiple fortified houses, with just a few heavy guns each. Keep personnel, including our fellow warriors, moving through the region.
>We need to reactivate another castle in the region. Set that up as a ‘hub’ in the area we can travel back and forth to as needed.
>The spice and the fortification need not be in the same location. We could start the former in the middle of Hazaran and have civilians handle it.
>Other?

>>5014311
>Multiple fortified houses, with just a few heavy guns each. Keep personnel, including our fellow warriors, moving through the region.
>The spice and the fortification need not be in the same location. We could start the former in the middle of Hazaran and have civilians handle it.

>>5014311
>>The spice and the fortification need not be in the same location. We could start the former in the middle of Hazaran and have civilians handle it.

>>5014311
>The spice and the fortification need not be in the same location. We could start the former in the middle of Hazaran and have civilians handle it.

>>5014311
>Multiple fortified houses, with just a few heavy guns each. Keep personnel, including our fellow warriors, moving through the region.
>We need to reactivate another castle in the region.
>The spice and the fortification need not be in the same location. We could start the former in the middle of Hazaran and have civilians handle it.

>>5014311
>Multiple fortified houses, with just a few heavy guns each. Keep personnel, including our fellow warriors, moving through the region.
>The spice and the fortification need not be in the same location. We could start the former in the middle of Hazaran and have civilians handle it.

File: Map-Hazaran-Jan-2020.png (425 KB, 584x546)

425 KB PNG

>>5014311
For reference here in a minute.

>>5015235
“The spice and fortifications need not be located in the same place,” you muse thoughtfully. “In fact it may make more sense to keep them distinct.”

“I agree,” Sabela nods.

“The ideal defensive measure would spread fortified houses with a few heavy guns each through the Dari pass and its surrounds,” you decide. “Daria to Nairn, Nairn to Shieldaig, Shieldaig to Norwick, Norwick to Merced. Rysa and Rosemarkie would also be important, as will Voi and Acerrae.”

“Several of those are already being worked on, aren’t they?” Sabela observes. “If I remember it would be the stretch from Merced to Acerrae, through Rosemarkie, Rysa, Daria, and Voi.”

“The best place for spice would probably be Dean,” you decide. “Keep it a little less politicized than it would be if we were doing it in the capital itself.”

“And the best intermediate location?”

“Ardlui. You think that would be a good way to organize our own comrades?”

“I do,” Sabela replies. “Keep people rotating between locations where they can serve as reserves in the event of an invasion, or as strike teams in case of...”

“Yōma?” Salem interrupts, taking a seat on the roof nearby. “I find it hard to believe how few of those we’ve seen lately, since the Organization withdrew from Lavinia. It almost makes me think you had a point when you said they might be the ones behind it all.”

“Can’t sleep?” you ask.

“Not since I awakened,” she admits. “It’s my hearing... I can hear too well for my own good.”

“For me it’s smell,” Sabela admits calmly. “At least that I can control with herbs and perfumes.”

“Same problem,” you confess. “Actually, it’s the reason I created my specialty technique... yōma blood has this particular smell, you know?”

“I’ve never noticed,” Salem admits.

“Count yourself lucky,” Sabela grumbles.

>Can we do anything to help you sleep, Salem?
>If you’re awake, care to do some planning with us?
>What do you think about the other awakened beings?
>Other

>>5015311
>Can we do anything to help you sleep, Salem?

>>5015311
>Can we do anything to help you sleep, Salem?

>>5015311
>What do you think about the other awakened beings?

>>5015311
>>If you’re awake, care to do some planning with us?

>>5015311
>Can we do anything to help you sleep, Salem?

>>5015311
>Can we do anything to help you sleep, Salem?

>>5015311
“Is there anything we can do to help?” you offer awkwardly. “I mean, I’d at least like to try, you know?”

“A massage would be nice,” Salem smirks.

You shake your head. “I’m a queen, so that’s not happening.”

After a moment, your mother sighs wearily. “I never thought something like this might ever take place... but what seems to be bothering you?”

“Right here,” Salem insists, indicating her right shoulderblade. “It feels like I’ve messed the ligaments up in my shoulder.”

With a subtle roll of her eyes, Sabela obliges. She gently works the muscles around the offending joint to loosen up any tension Salem may be carrying there, with a satisfied sigh. “I was never any good at healing these sort of soft-tissue injuries, you know? Too fiddly. Leaves it sore afterwards.”

“I wouldn’t know,” Sabela grumbles. “I’ve always had above-average regeneration for an offensive-type. My daughter is the same way I think.”

“Not quite,” you admit. “I think I was technically classified as a specialist-type? So saying I couldn’t regenerate well like a defensive type, or that I couldn’t amplify my striking power like an offensive type, would be pure guesswork.”

“So Salem,” Sabela asks, “do you think this will help you sleep?”

“No,” Salem answers calmly. “I never said it would help, I said it would be nice.”

Sabela stops, her hands still on Salem’s shoulders.

There’s a pause before Salem speaks up. “I should’ve waited until you were done, shouldn’t I?”

“Would’ve been smarter,” Sabela agrees, before wrenching Salem’s arm and earning a yelp.

“You dislocated it at some point and never set it right,” Sabela announces. “It should be fine now.”

“Thanks,” Salem grunts. “For not ripping it off I mean.”

After a few more moments, a few quiet snorts of stifled laughter.

>We should take turns getting some rest. No telling what we might run into on the way home.
>I hate to mention it, but this only leaves Constanzia and Rafaela. What should we do?
>The Organization won’t stay in Sakia forever. We need to decide what our response will be.
>Other?

>>5016437
>I hate to mention it, but this only leaves Constanzia and Rafaela. What should we do?
>The Organization won’t stay in Sakia forever. We need to decide what our response will be.
>Other?
Where's that crazy B? Clarice or what's her name?

>>5016437
>I hate to mention it, but this only leaves Constanzia and Rafaela. What should we do?
>The Organization won’t stay in Sakia forever. We need to decide what our response will be.

>>5016437
>I hate to mention it, but this only leaves Constanzia and Rafaela. What should we do?
>The Organization won’t stay in Sakia forever. We need to decide what our response will be.

>>5016437
>>I hate to mention it, but this only leaves Constanzia and Rafaela. What should we do?
>>The Organization won’t stay in Sakia forever. We need to decide what our response will be.

Do awakened beings slowly go insane due to lack of REM sleep

>>5017008
Probably contributes.

>>5017008
Speaking of lack of sleep I'm out with a bad headache. I'll continue this tomorrow.

>>5016437
“That leaves three potential problems,” you sigh. “Rafaela and Constanzia, the Organization’s main force in Sakia, and Clarice.”

“Clarice?” Salem frowns.

“The number One from Noel’s generation,” your mother clarifies.

“Oh,” Salem nods. “Why’s she such a problem?”

“Pretty much everyone knows she kills our own,” you explain. “I’d be willing to bet she’s part of the reason we haven’t seen some of our former comrades since the Organization collapsed.”

“You think she’s actually killing warriors?” Salem asks warily. “That’s... kind of hard to believe.”

“That’s because you’ve never met her. Some of us are beyond reason and she's one of them.”

“So what do you want to do about it?” Sabela frowns slightly, turning her head towards you.

>I think we need to track Clarice down and kill her before she kills any of us.
>I think the Organization would be able to find and eliminate Clarice for us.
>It may be too much to hope for, but the ideal would be for Constanzia to kill her.
>Other?

>>5018150
>>It may be too much to hope for, but the ideal would be for Constanzia to kill her.

>>5018150
>>It may be too much to hope for, but the ideal would be for Constanzia to kill her.

>>5018150
>It may be too much to hope for, but the ideal would be for Constanzia to kill her.

>>5018150
>It may be too much to hope for, but the ideal would be for Constanzia to kill her.

File: everyone2.jpg (31 KB, 703x315)

31 KB JPG

>>5018150
>I think we need to track Clarice down and kill her before she kills any of us.
>I think the Organization would be able to find and eliminate Clarice for us.
>It may be too much to hope for, but the ideal would be for Constanzia to kill her.
SEND EVERYONE!

>>5018150
>It may be too much to hope for, but the ideal would be for Constanzia to kill her.
>Salem she literally has a claymore kill tally and steals techniques. She’s worse than your sister was.

>>5018150
“We need to deal with Clarice too,” you sigh. “Not as much as we need the Organization off our necks but nearly as much. There’s no telling how much damage she’s already done.”

“How have we not heard anything about her?” Sabela wonders aloud. “From any of the warriors you’ve recruited so far?”

Salem shakes her head. “From the sound of it she may not have left anyone to tell about meeting her. With the Organization out of the picture there’d be nothing stopping a real, genuine psychopath from doing whatever she wanted.”

“Maybe we’ve been looking in the wrong places,” Sabela muses thoughtfully. “Maybe Salem is right – and maybe we should be looking for human settlements that have been lost since the Organization’s withdrawal.”

“That’s possible,” you admit. “Like Salem said, there’d be nothing to stop her.”

“But then what do we do once we find her?” Salem asks.

“It would be best to have her fight Constanzia and Rafaela,” you muse. “But that would take some really intricate and subtle engineering.”

“What happens when that pushes Clarice to awaken?” Sabela presses you.

>Who says she hasn’t already by now?
>Then one kills the other and we kill the winner.
>The Organization could sweep up the winner.
>Other?

>>5019278
>Who says she hasn’t already by now?
>The Organization could sweep up the winner.

>>5019278
>Who says she hasn’t already by now?

>>5019278
>Who says she hasn’t already by now?
>Then one kills the other and we kill the winner.

I doubt the Org would do it.

>>5019278
>>Who says she hasn’t already by now?
>>Then one kills the other and we kill the winner.

>>5019514
I won't be surprised at all if the Org recrutis Clarice.

>>5019710
I assumed she'd been experimented on or awakened then experimented on. I felt that she'd show up at the worst time and "ambush" us, so when anything could go wrong at a critical point I start screaming at the shadows.

>>5019278
“All we need to do is make sure the number of our enemies decreases,” you muse. “So if Clarice can defeat, oh, say, Rafaela or Constanzia? That’s good for us, one fewer thing to worry about. If she loses? Same principle, one less thing to worry about.”

“And if they formed some unexpected alliance?” Salem presses.

“Then we can still set them against each other,” you offer.
>3d10, best of three

Rolled 9, 2, 8 = 19 (3d10)

>>5020423

Rolled 3, 2, 8 = 13 (3d10)

>>5020423

Rolled 5, 1, 4 = 10 (3d10)

>>5020423

>>5020423
You have to hurry, starting out early in the pre-dawn dim the next day after rousing the human soldiers of the Organization’s military arm.

These few keep to themselves, and going is slower compared to what you could manage without them. But it’s still less of a source of tension than the awakened beings you’ve taken in tow. Livia and Jess still regard Reika with obvious and understandable mistrust, and you can’t say you blame them. She knows exactly what she did to earn that mistrust, having initially chosen her side when Livia, Jess, and their third member tried to defect from Ella’s faction. Reika has since stuck fairly close to you, probably out of recognition that you’re the only one present who would’ve given her a chance in that position.

By noon something becomes clear.

“We’re not going to make it to the border of your nation like this,” Salem mutters, glancing over your shoulder at the exhausted humans. “Not with them.”

[She may be right,] Serana admits tacitly, eyes cast to the northwest. [You know as well as I do they’ve been moving towards the border. At this rate they’ll catch us easily as we’re trying to make the crossing.]

>Then we take the harder route, through the mountains. Into terrain their tracked vehicles can’t manage.
>Then we either buy, borrow, or steal them some horses. We’ll carry them like potato sacks if we have to.
>Then we’ll fight them at the border, where we will have artillery support from Hazari fortifications.
>Other?

>>5021981
>>Then we take the harder route, through the mountains. Into terrain their tracked vehicles can’t manage.

>>5021981
>Then we either buy, borrow, or steal them some horses. We’ll carry them like potato sacks if we have to.

>>5021981
>Then we take the harder route, through the mountains. Into terrain their tracked vehicles can’t manage.

>>5021981
>>Then we take the harder route, through the mountains. Into terrain their tracked vehicles can’t manage.

>>5021981
>Then we take the harder route, through the mountains. Into terrain their tracked vehicles can’t manage.

>>5021981
>m
“Okay, okay!” Minoichi declares, “I’ll tell you whatever you want!”

There’s a long pause. “Okay,” Shikamaru-han eventually replies. “So let’s start with this: why did you defect from Konoha and come here?”

“Because the daimyō are full of shit and Gengo-sama is the only one doing anything about it,” Minoichi explains quickly. “We’re going to overthrow the daimyō and make it so the shinobi will rule.”

“You think that’s wise?” Shikamaru presses.

“Wise hasn’t got anything to do with it – we’re the ones who’re strong, we’re the ones keeping the daimyō in power. So why keep the daimyō around?”

“So that’s a fair point and everything,” Hinoko admits, “but for some reason this ‘Gengo’ guy is the one you wanna follow instead?”

“Of course!” Minoichi insists.

“But like, how’s he any better than the daimyō?” Hinoko presses. “Or the Hokage for that matter?”

“Irrelevant,” Shikamaru insists curtly. “This ‘Gengo’ guy, where can we find him?”

“The castle,” Minoichi tells you. “But even if you’ve got some kinda demon shadow or something you’re not gonna be able to beat him... because whether you like it or not he’s right. Gengo-sama’s not just a man – he’s a movement.”

>Knock Minoichi out and erase his memories.
>Put Minoichi to use as a genjutsu-controlled puppet.
>This is a matter for Konoha – leave it to them.
>Other?

>>5023213
“Then we travel by the harder road,” you say with a frown. “Take this party of ours into the mountain passes where vehicles won’t be able to follow, come into Hazaran through the mountains around Tarskavaig.”

...

The terrain gives way to steeper slopes as you climb.

Between the sheer rock faces and the shoulders of the mountains there are valleys with little snow-fed rivers running through them, and the paths you follow mostly follow those little rivers. Some have bridges, with one in particular being too small and the water being too deep for the Organization’s tracked vehicles to reach much deeper into the mountains.

“This should be sufficient,” Sabela muses politely. “I think the humans could use a break.”

“Then we’ll break out some of what supplies we have,” you decide. “It’s rather awkward to haul all this equipment anyway, so I think we could all use a break from it.”

...

After taking several of these breaks, slowing you down significantly, you manage to resupply in Tarskavaig and procure some horses to take you the rest of the way. Your arrival in Scaithness turns heads, that much is certain, and one of them is Helen’s.

“What’s all this?”

“Salem, Livia, Jess, and Reika,” you explain, getting straight to the point. “The latter three are former subordinates of Ella’s.”

“And what happened to Ella?”

“Oh, she’s dead,” Salem muses. “Very, very dead. And we’re all very, very hungry.”

“Please tell me there’s enough spice harvested to compensate?” Sabela asks in a low voice. “I’ve been out for two days.”

“There should be,” Helen nods, “but this is going to have to be a higher priority from now on. Noel, would you mind explaining to me... well, all of the rest of this?”

“Survivors and loot from the Organization’s advance force,” you muse.

“And you brought them here with the intention of...” she presses.

>Humanitarian grounds.
>Technical support.
>Diplomatic strategy.
>Other?

>>5023213
Apologies for the fuckup here. My chromebook sometimes decides to NOT copy a new block of text to clipboard and I didn't fucking hold its hand enough to make sure it did what I assumed it would.

And now the post is too old to delete. So yay, fun.

>>5023251
>Humanitarian grounds.
>Technical support.
Information and interrogation.

>>5023251
>Humanitarian grounds.
>Technical support.

>>5023251
>Humanitarian grounds.
>Technical support.

>>5023251
>Humanitarian grounds.
>Technical support
>>5023252
Wow, Android fucking things up? I'm shocked!

>>5023251
>>Diplomatic strategy.

>>5023251
>Humanitarian grounds.
>Technical support.

>>5023251
“Well, it was the humanitarian thing to do,” you muse, noting Helen’s look of disbelief. “And they may have some information we could use.”

“Ah,” Helen nods. “What do you think they can help with?”

“Design and deployment,” you declare. “I want to know more about how their weapons work, and other bits of land-based military technology and tactics. I’m especially curious how the mainland defends against weapons like these.”

“And the actual battle itself? Do you think the Organization is an actual threat?”

“In a word, yes,” you admit. “Maybe not to an awakened being, or even a half-awakened. But to unawakened warriors and our own local defenders? Absolutely. Their weaponry is decades ahead of ours at best, and I used it against awakened beings quite effectively.”

“How so?” Helen wonders aloud. “Don’t tell me you ripped off one of those heavy cannons and used it like a rifle?”

“Then I’m not going to tell you that,” you muse. “My point is though that especially when used at close quarters those heavy rounds have the ability to do a lot of damage to an awakened being’s skull – and if they’re not the type that can regenerate from a wound like that, it can be fatal.”

“But useless against someone like Salem, or your mother, or Ella?”

“Completely.”

“With that sort of firepower though,” Helen muses, “I’d imagine what you would be interested in is defending territory with the fewest number of heavy guns as possible?”

“Exactly,” you confirm. “The more of them we can make from existing materials the better.”

“The mines in the eastern mountains must seem like quite the boon now,” she smiles.

...

The next morning, you prepare to conduct the ‘interviews’ – not like interrogations, at least not the sort of thing most people mean when they say that. Instead you plan to ask questions, and you expect to be answered truthfully. Ideally things won’t need to go past that point, and you’ll get what you want out of it.

The first to sit across your desk from you is the one who seemed to take over the little group of survivors after the battle, and throughout the trip back to Hazaran.

>Make nice. You hope that Hazari hospitality has put their Organization’s intents in context.
>Get to the point – you need to know how to defend against the firepower coming your way.
>Take a little rhetorical trip. Make it clear that she and her subordinates’ fates are entwined with Hazaran’s.
>Other?

>>5024400
>Make nice. You hope that Hazari hospitality has put their Organization’s intents in context.

>>5024400
>Make nice. You hope that Hazari hospitality has put their Organization’s intents in context.

>>5024400
>>Take a little rhetorical trip. Make it clear that she and her subordinates’ fates are entwined with Hazaran’s.

>>5024400
>>Take a little rhetorical trip. Make it clear that she and her subordinates’ fates are entwined with Hazaran’s.

>>5024400
>>Make nice. You hope that Hazari hospitality has put their Organization’s intents in context.

>>5024400
>Take a little rhetorical trip. Make it clear that she and her subordinates’ fates are entwined with Hazaran’s.

>>5024400
“What do you think of Hazaran so far?” you muse as the woman settles in across from you. “I know you haven’t been here very long, but is it what you expected?”

She considers her answer. “You’re all so backwards here,” she eventually admits. “Sakia, Hazaran, all of you. But so far, I have to admit Hazaran strikes me as having something... I’m not sure how to call it.”

“Try.”

“It’s a harsh, rugged place,” she offers. “And you’ve clearly put deliberate efforts into modernizations. But the culture’s also very... hospitable. And the food is quite fantastic. Do all your people eat so well, or just the ones who live in castles?”

“Few households have the sort of expertise that Dominca brings to the table,” you admit. “But it’s all typical Hazari fare, albeit a bit nicer ingredients than many people can get reliably.”

“And you treat all your prisoners this way?”

“We try to,” you shrug. “Life can be hard here, especially during the winters, so the attitude has always been ‘why make it harder’ – or something like that.”

“Well,” she nods, “what are you trying to learn from me?”

“Ways to defend against the Organization’s military forces,” you explain.

She frowns. “That’s not a small ask.”

“Look at it this way – we’ve been treating you as we would our own,” you smirk. “And I think the Organization is going to look at it that way as well.”

There’s a significant pause in your conversation as she considers your point – that she and her subordinates are traitors to the Organization just by being here, and that their own individual fates are largely tied to that of Hazaran.

She bites her lip, preparing to tell you what she knows.
>3d10, best of three

Rolled 10, 4, 7 = 21 (3d10)

>>5025506

Rolled 9, 8, 6 = 23 (3d10)

>>5025506

Rolled 5, 3, 1 = 9 (3d10)

>>5025506

>>5025506
“Do you know what ‘rebar’ is?” she asks you.

You frown and shake your head, so she explains further. “It’s short for a ‘reinforcement bar’. What you do is you take a series of metal bars and set them into concrete. You... do have concrete, right?”

“Of course,” you nod. “My father used concrete in a lot of the public works of his later reign.”

There’s a long pause. “Your father was the king?”

“Well yes. I don’t know how things work where you’re from, but generally you don’t become a queen without either marrying a king or being a princess first. Often both.”

After a moment, she shakes her head. “Anyway, so are you following me?”

“You set the metal bars into the concrete, and the two materials enhance each other’s properties,” you summarize. “Interesting concept. How is it relevant?”

“I see where you’re from you use tree trunks,” she smirks, “but where I’m from what we do is set panels of foot-thick reinforced concrete over defensive walls to bring them up to modern standards.”

“As a form of sacrificial protection for the underlying structure.”

“That’s right.”

“What kind of metal?”

“Steel is the ideal in theory,” she tells you, “but high-quality cast iron can be just as good. Square cross-section, with a one in six twist to improve adhesion. It has to be at least one inch into the material, with either two or three lattices of rebar.”

>How much more about this process can you tell our local builders?
>That’s a good start. What other tricks can you share with me?
>Thank you. Could you send in the next one on your way out?
>Other?

>>5026538
>How much more about this process can you tell our local builders?
>That’s a good start. What other tricks can you share with me?

Raw material refinement processes and technologies?

>>5026538

>How much more about this process can you tell our local builders?
>That’s a good start. What other tricks can you share with me?

>>5026538
>How much more about this process can you tell our local builders?
>That’s a good start. What other tricks can you share with me?

>>5026538
“How much of this can you share with the local builders?” you ask, “and can you offer anything else to work with? Maybe hints for how to get this reinforced concrete onto structures in time to make a difference against the Organization?”

After considering it for a moment, she nods in confirmation, having thought of something. “I do have an idea. The trick is to build the panels in a form near the structure you’re reinforcing. Then move them to their final location and tie them in using a series of rebar clips.”

“Sitting in a shallow footing trench?” you muse.

She nods. “Yeah, that’s right. One foot usually serves the purpose.”

“So can we start this week?” you muse.

“Probably. I can give your local builders some tips on how to get the rebar set right if you’d like.”

“That would be good,” you nod in agreement.

...

The woman, a gunnery officer whose name you learn is Laida, takes charge of her fellow survivors and instructs a set of craftsmen to begin their work. Carpenters create a reusable wooden form in just a few hours, and masons are instructed on how to mix concrete to a specific formula. Ironworkers form bar stock for inspection, and twist it to fit a predetermined twist rate.

With all the necessary ingredients being immediately available, it’s less than half a day before you’re watching the first fabricated reinforced concrete wall panel drying.

“I want officers trained to do this,” you insist to the commander of the local garrison. “I want crews to be installing these panels as soon as humanly possible, particularly on posts that are expected to fall under Organization assault.”

“Right away, miss Noel.”

...

“It seems like we were just updating the defenses here,” Valentina muses over dinner.

Justina shrugs. “Seems so.”

[I’ve seen what the Organization’s weapons can do,] Serana insists. [It’s necessary.]
>1/2

>>5027525
“I think this is the last measure,” you admit. “Any more advanced and gunnery will make fortresses like this one obsolete anyway.”

“So you really think they’re coming?” Valentina wonders with a frown. “I mean, why haven’t they come already?”

>They’ve just been feeling the situation out. It’s a slow strategic process.
>The military arm may have never been told about what we’re actually like.
>They tried to make a move and they got slapped down. They’ll be more careful now.
>Other?

>>5027529
>The military arm may have never been told about what we’re actually like.
>Other?
They are probably consolidating their gains.

>>5027529
>The military arm may have never been told about what we’re actually like.

>>5027529
>The military arm may have never been told about what we’re actually like.

>>5027529
>The military arm may have never been told about what we’re actually like.

>>5027529
>They’ve just been feeling the situation out. It’s a slow strategic process.
>The military arm may have never been told about what we’re actually like.
>They tried to make a move and they got slapped down. They’ll be more careful now.
All basically saying the same thought.

>>5027529
>The military arm may have never been told about what we’re actually like.
>They tried to make a move and they got slapped down. They’ll be more careful now.

>>5027529
“The military arm of the Organization might not know anything about us,” you summarize your own thoughts. “So the fact that we’re putting up any sort of fight may come as a surprise to them.”

“So while they try to figure out what happened they consolidate what they’ve already gained?”

“You’ve really gotten the hang of this strategy thing,” you muse.

“I had good teachers,” Valentina smiles. “So what’re they going to think now?”

“Hard to say,” you admit. “All of the survivors came with us near as I can tell. But the fact that our side walked away at the end of that battle should tell them that we’ve found a way to deal with them that doesn’t violate our rules.”

“They’ll be wary,” Justina supposes.

You nod. “Most likely. And that gives us some time to harden our defenses and prepare for them.”

“Your new guests mentioned something else useful,” Valentina offers, showing you a drawing on a scrap of paper. “Here, they call them ‘tiger teeth’ traps. They’re meant to make it impossible for one of those armored gun carts to get through.”

“But they’re spaced just far enough apart for a horsecart,” you realize. “Very interesting. I assume these are meant to be placed within firing range of a gun emplacement?”

“That’s right.”

“Well then,” you muse thoughtfully, “I think all things considered we’re going to be quite ready for them once they decide to make a move. They're going to see just how much they don't know about us."
>3d10, best of four

Rolled 5, 3, 1 = 9 (3d10)

>>5028431

Rolled 10, 10, 2 = 22 (3d10)

>>5028431

Rolled 9, 3, 8 = 20 (3d10)

>>5028431

Rolled 8, 7, 7 = 22 (3d10)

>>5028431

>>5028431
With help from your new guests and the full resources of the Hazari military, things go into motion quickly – and you’re treated to an example of the new technology in action while examining the defenses in the high passes east of Tarskavaig.

It comes with some alarmed shouting as the local garrison reports the arrival of a small column of gun carriers and infantry on foot, an alarm you stamp out personally.

“Calm down!” you bark. “This is what you’ve been preparing for, so stick to your training and you’ll do fine.”

You’ve been joined today by Lunara, the former ‘captain’-classed warrior who you have rarely worked with before. She twirls her fluffy white fringes with her finger as she watches the men go to work, a hint of nervousness in the air.

“Is this really going to be okay?” she wonders.

“We’ll see,” you muse quietly. “How fast can you run?”

She stares at you in surprise as you chuckle. “I’m kidding of course.”

…

The first gun carrier in the column comes down and around a slight turn in the saddle valley and can’t stop in time, the bottom of the vehicle crunching as it settles onto a blunt-tipped pyramid of reinforced concrete. You watch it get stuck from the opposite corner of the saddle, where the pass’s defenses are located.

“Fire!” the captain of the fortified L-plan garrison’s gun crew shouts, dropping a single round onto the pre-ranged target area from across the valley. The first round hits the gun carrier’s open crew space, setting off its ammunition in a chain of secondary explosions. From the slope opposite the road three small, mobile mortars connected by a slit trench lob fused bombs onto the soldiers caught out in the open, who can’t withdraw past the last gun carrier in the column.

The one at the back of the column then takes a round that destroys it as well, and the one in the middle veers off the path and down into the valley where it strips several links in its track before getting itself stuck as well.

More mortar bombs fall all over the area before the captain calls it off.

“Cease fire, cease fire!”

Lunara doesn't hide her concern. "That wasn't even a fight. They wandered right into the trap and couldn't recover."

"I suspected the first few skirmishes might be like that," you admit.

>Order the survivors captured and treated.
>Allow the survivors to withdraw and tell stories about this defeat.
>Direct fire onto the gun carrier, destroy their materiel.
>Other?

>>5029444
>Order the survivors captured and treated.

>>5029444
>Order the survivors captured and treated.

>>5029444
>They went in with no recon at all and promptly got stuck.
The org has sent the very dregs against us.

>Order the survivors captured and treated.

>>5029444
>>Order the survivors captured and treated.

>>5029444
>>Order the survivors captured and treated.

>>5029444
>Order the survivors captured and treated